Poorly chicken

[Roobaloo]

It's been a bad weekend for hens in my house.

 

Firstly we had to put our little 4 week old Legbar Chick to sleep (there's a post about her in Hatching and Raising forum - "Rickets?? Edit - *sad Update") then in the evening Toph got attacked!!

 

I was sat in the living room when I heard an almightly scream. We leave the dog in the garden as a body guard. He isn't bothered by the chickens (he's actually a bit scared!) just minds his own business but is a great deterrent!! Only, my OH had accidentally let the dog in whilst hanging out laundry!!

 

Trying to run across laminate flooring in socks is not easy...so after slipping and crashing into a few things, I ran out into the garden to find both hens stood alert and shouting their lungs off. There were a few of Toph's feathers littering the ground but in the WIR, there were lots more!! So whatever it was must've pinned her...and had a good go at trying to hold her!!

 

We're mid-terrace and the houses are surrounded by footpaths and had kids charging up and down them most the day... So it had to be something that wasn't afraid of people - a cat. But the girls have encountered and chased off cats before..

 

After checking Toph for any obvious wounds, I charged out the back gate and sure enough I saw a cat about 15 meters up the path, walking away. It's fairly new to the area and I'd never seen it down our end before. It's a real bruiser of a cat though. So I chased it down the path (still in my socks!) hissing!

 

The final evidence was Toph's reaction to one of our cats....they're indoor cats so the girls only see them when they're at the windows or in the conservatory and begging for food. Normally they squawk a bit but hold their ground and the cat walks off. I'd picked Toph up and was just carrying her about (which shows how stressed she was - she hates being held!) and I stepped in the back door to speak to my OH...when one of our cats, Will, appeared. Will is the spitting image of this bruiser cat, the only difference is that he's slightly smaller and had a less angry 'expression'. Toph went crazy, clawed me...forced herself free and bolted from the house.

 

She's beginning to calm down now...still bolts at any unknown movement or noise...and is very clingy when I'm in the garden. The worst part is that because it happened in the WIR...she's very tense in there now. She scrambled over Suki to get out yesterday morning (Suki is top hen so normally is first to do anything!)

 

Thankfully, other than shaken and a bit bald, she's fine...and I'm grateful she's a big hen! Suki is small and fiesty but whether she could've fought it off...? Toph is heavy and powerful so hopefully she shocked the cat enough to teach it that hens aren't food.

 

....needless to say, I've put a sign on the door as a reminder!

 

"If the hens are out - then so is the dog!!"

 

Whilst most people know to be careful of foxes etc...it's generally considered that cats aren't an issue. I certainly thought that... but if I kept Pekin's or similar small bantams...I might be minus one now.

[Carol U]

What a horrid thing to happen! I hope your poor little girl is OK. You might find she stops laying for a bit, but will gradually get her confidence back. Although we have a cat (she and the chickens totally ignore one another) the chooks make the most terrible din if another cat dares come into the garden. So far the cats have fled, but I will be more careful about them in future after your experience.

[frizz]

That is awful, I have a cat and because he is a bengal and part wild cat, I do have to watch him as his fav hobby is chicken chasing, although so far he hasnt actually got close enough to catch them, they are pekins but I am fairly confident that they would peck him and frighten him off. Even as a cat person, I would have done the same and chased the local bully. Glad all seems to be okay though.